Barney's Blog

Microsoft OK for Now

Our economy is clearly messed up -- and the overseas market is crashing again
as I type. The weird thing is that stocks are tanking more based on what's going
to happen than what is happening. The real impact of frozen credit will
be felt when giant retailers go under and millions lose jobs.

That's why it's not surprising that in this latest quarter, Microsoft had its
normal stunning
results. Revenue came in just north of $15 billion and profits nearly hit
$6 billion, margins any self-respecting capitalist would be proud of. And for
the current quarter Microsoft expects things to get even better -- maybe hitting
close to $18 billion. That's a lot of Christmas Xboxes.

Windows wasn't the dollar driver. Instead, Office and SQL Server did a lot
of the heavy financial lifting.

Still, Microsoft is bracing for a tougher future and will take a hard look
at expenses. They can start by yanking those "I'm a PC" commercials!
What are you doing to prepare for what could be a brutal economy? Advice welcome
at dbarney@redmondmag.com.